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Vancouver Canadians win 2012 Northwest League championship

The Vancouver Canadians celebrate after defeating the Boise Hawks 12-9 to win the 2012 Northwest League championship

Photograph by: Vancouver Canadians
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The Vancouver Canadians are two-for-two in Northwest League baseball championships since falling under the umbrella of the Toronto Blue Jays.

The C's, who became a Blue Jays farm team in 2011, rallied dramatically for seven runs in the top of eighth inning Sunday to beat back the Boise Hawks 12-9 and take the best-of-three final 2-1, defending the title they captured a year ago.

“Our partnership with the Blue Jays could not have gotten off to a better start,” said a hoarse Canadians GM Jason Takefman in a phone interview following the victory. “We can get used to this championship thing. Oh man, it's amazing. We're raising the trophy down here and we've got non-alcoholic champagne going. It's organized chaos right now. It's a great celebration.”

Trailing 7-5 and down to their last six outs at Boise's Memorial Stadium, Vancouver sent 10 men to the plate in the eighth on two walks, two errors, a hit batter, two singles and triple. It marked the second time in the series the C's put up seven runs in an inning.

“We can get used to those seven-run rallies,” laughed Takefman. “They look good on us.”

In Game 1, the C's scored seven in the bottom of the seventh to erase a 7-3 Boise lead and prevail 10-7. The Hawks stayed alive Saturday night with a 3-2 victory in which they twice came from behind in the late innings and won it in the bottom of the ninth.

In Sunday's decisive eighth, second baseman Christian Lopes and pinch hitter Dwight Smith Jr walked and catcher Tucker Frawley reached on an error to load the bases. Shortstop Jorge Flores was then hit by a pitch to score the sixth Vancouver run and he was followed by third baseman Kellen Sweeney, who singled home two more to put Vancouver ahead for keeps.

First baseman Balbino Fuenmayor followed Sweeney's single with another single and then designated hitter Art Charles triped and romped home on the second error of the inning. Most of the damage was done against Boise closer Eddie Orozco, who was charged with the final five runs in the inning.

Boise added one in the bottom of the eighth and another in the ninth but Vancouver closer Arik Sikula, who blew the save and lost Saturday night's game, earned redemption Sunday when he recorded the final three outs. Sikula had been a perfect 13-for-13 in save opportunities prior to the Saturday loss.

“It was an unbelievable win by an unbelievable group of guys,” Takefman said. “Absolutely we were confident our hitters could get us back in the game. We're really resilient. Last year, we did the same thing, winning Game 3 after losing the night before.”

Vancouver received the start it wanted Sunday, scoring two in the top of first on RBI singles by Charles and right fielder Matt Newman. The Hawks promptly responded with four of their own on a single, walk, double and three-run homer by cleanup hitter Dan Vogelbach before the C's recorded an out.

The Canadians regained the lead in the top of the fourth with a two-out, three-run rally as Frawley, who had not homered all season, gave his team life with a two-run swat. Boise immediately responded in the home half of the inning, scoring three times to again take the lead, this time 7-5.

Sweeney, a second-round pick of the Blue Jays in 2010, had the game-winning RBI on Sunday. He also collected the game-winning RBI in Game 1 of the West Division final against Everett

C-NOTES: Reliever Wil Browning, the fourth of five Vancouver pitchers, collected the win Sunday... Kellen Sweeney, Balbino Fuenmayor and D.J. Davis, a first-round pick of the Blue Jays in 2012, each had three hits Sunday... Art Charles had three RBI while Sweeney, Jorge Flores and Tucker Frawley had two apiece... Frawley, who hit just .185 in the regular season, finished the playoffs at a sublime .500. Flores batted .438 in the post-season and Fuenmayor finished at .409.

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